One of the reasons my father raised the girls in my family to be such sassy broads is that his mother was not one. Raised in northern Vietnam, my paternal grandmother was an extremely passive woman. Throughout her marriage to my rough, domineering grandfather, she dealt with pain, fear and anger with one tool: silence.

The Center for the Pacific Asian Family provides a multi-lingual 24-hour call center, emergency shelter, transitional housing program, counseling services and community outreach programs that focuses on the needs of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in the Los Angeles area.

To sum up: they help break the silence surrounding violence, for women not unlike my grandma (and maybe yours)–by being just a phone call away.

Here’s the lowdown: The economy shat on CPAF this year. Their budget was cut in half. This won’t affect their commitment to the mission, but it does change their ability to staff all of the people with all of those language abilities 24 hours a day.

What if somebody decides to break their silence and give a call, but there’s nobody to pick up the phone? That’s a scene I don’t want to even think about.

The reason I’m telling you all of this is because CPAF is now part of a major Chase Community Giving Contest on Facebook, and having soared through the first round, is currently in the running for a $1 million grant. We joined a bunch of peeps (from Lisa Ling to Sandra Oh to David Choi to Beau Sia) in a PSA campaign to promote this phase of the contest.

Note: the voting period only lasts for ONE WEEK, January 15 – January 22.

The first video debuted last night:

…we were included in another:

…and we hope it will inspire you to take 30 seconds out of your busy Facebook poking schedule to add the Chase Community Giving App and vote (Dudes, we know apps suck, but this is worth it!). This is one of those rare opportunities for us to pull together and do something right by the AAPI community. Think of it as miro-reprezenting–we all count.

We’ll be throwing up videos and new info as we speak all week! So please, please take the time to cast your vote now! THANK YOU!

3 Responses to “Love Thy Sistas: A Vote For CPAF”

CPAF is a phenomenal organization that has impacted countless lives. They are a community resource that has gone under appreciated far too long! As a former CPAF team member, I know first hand the awesome dedication and integrity the staff hold towards helping our API communities, not to mention the countless hours (many uncompensated!) the staff have put in to create a safe, empowering environment for our sisters to recover and thrive in.

Please support CPAF. Their — OUR — work is not done and WE have so much to do.